Menu

Umno hegemony is under threat, Malays are not under threat

Since the recent general election, voices have risen up in a shrill warning cry that the Malays are now ‘under threat’. But perhaps the real threat is the threat to Umno hegemony.

AND so it begins. Race-based rhetoric has raised its ugly little head in response to a democratic process. Over 49% of the people of Malaysia have voted for parties that have rejected race-based affirmative action in favour of a needs-based platform.

It did not take very long for voices, both common and royal, to rise up in a shrill warning cry that the Malays are now “under threat”.

“Under threat” from what, may I ask? Let’s take a bit of time to look at this so-called “threat”. Firstly, Malays are given special protection under Article 153 of the Constitution.

Article 153 is titled “Reservation of quotas in respect of services, permits, etc, for Malays and natives of any of the States of Sabah and Sarawak”. Article 152 states that Malay is the National Language. The Supreme Head of the Federation, according to Article 32, is the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, a Malay ruler.

This is the foundation of Malay “special privileges”.

None of the Pakatan Rakyat component parties, including the DAP, have said anything about removing Articles 153, 152 and 32. They remain safe and secure with no sign whatsoever of any sort of threat.

Besides, in order to change it, you would need a two-thirds majority in the lower and upper houses of Parliament plus the support of the Conference of Rulers. The last time I checked, no one has a two-thirds majority in the Dewan Rakyat.

Secondly, due to simple demographics, it is unlikely that a totally non-Malay party is ever going to win absolute control of the government. Of the five state governments in the hands of the Pakatan, four are led by a Malay Mentri Besar.

Penang is an exception, but Penang has been led by non-Malays since the 60s. Why was there was no outcry before this?

Thirdly, the proposed doing-away with the NEP (or whatever it is called nowadays), I suppose, can be seen as a threat to the Malays.

But how it can be a threat is beyond me, because the replacement suggested by the Pakatan is not some sort of laissez-faire capitalist economy. Instead, it is an economic system with affirmative action promised to those in need.

If the Malays are the largest group of people in Malaysia who are in the most need, then they will get the most help. If they are not in the most need, then why on earth do they need help then?

This is the point where I will get angry letters about how the NEP is needed; because in the business world – the real world which I know nothing about because I am just a lowly-academic trapped in my ivory tower – Malays are discriminated against by the Chinese. So we need a policy like the NEP to provide some balance.

I disagree.

If there are racist business policies being conducted against the Malays, then you face it head on with anti-discrimination laws.

If some person feels he is being discriminated against, no matter what his race, then let there be a law to help him, and let us punish the racists with a hefty fine or jail term.

You do not meet racism with racism; you challenge it by destroying all traces of it.

The problem with the NEP, as I see it, is that it breeds a mentality of entitlement based on race and not merit. This mentality seeps into governance, and it creates an atmosphere of mediocrity. One example of this is how the Constitution has been disregarded in relation to employment issues.

The Federal Constitution states that you can set quotas at the entry points of government services, for example, the civil service and public universities. However, this is counter-balanced by Article 136 that says all federal employees must be treated fairly regardless of race.

This means that once inside a service, everyone is to be treated equally based on merit. In such a situation, only the cream will rise to the top.

However, since the introduction of the NEP, the practice in government services has been to promote Malays mainly. This has in turn led to a drop in the number of non-Malay actors in the service of the public.

Taking my profession for example, the closeted unrealistic world of academia, I look down south and I see that 30% of the staff in the National University of Singapore Law School are Malaysians.

How come these clever fellows who are good enough to teach in a university that is among the top 20 in the world are not here in the land of their birth? Why are the blinking Singaporeans enjoying our talent? Is it because that talent is all non-Malay and they feel they have better opportunities there than here?

This is a complete waste, and in the end this loss of talent means a loss for the university, the country and the people of this country, including the Malay students who miss out on the best possible teachers.

Perhaps the real threat is the threat to Umno hegemony, in which case my answer to that is this: clean up your act, live up to your promises and listen to what the people are saying.

Make yourself electable by proving that you can create good government.

I was extremely shocked to read the report ‘My father would have been proud’ related by Dr Mahathir Mohamad in the New Straits Times on March 21.

In the article, Mahathir said his father was Mohamad Iskander and that ‘…my father was one of the few Malays who ran away to school to get an education’.

Is our former prime minister suffering from dementia to even forget his father’s actual name? His father was a Indian man from the southern Indian state of Kerala by the name of Mohamad a/l Kutty.

Therefore, genetically Mahathir, whose father is Indian and mother a Malay would be classified as an Indian. However our federal constitution says that any man who profess the religion of Islam, practices the Malay customs and speaks Malay would be considered a Malay.

Therefore, under the constitution’s definition Mahathir’s father was a Malay but in reality and factually, he was an Indian.

But what surprises me and many Malaysians is why is he ashamed of his own Indian heritage so much so that he even declare that his father was a Malay when this is not true.

In his speech at the Perkasa gathering, he even lambasted the non-Malays for equating the NEP policy to apartheid.

In many of his speeches, he has dwelled at length on the rights and privileges of the non-Malays pretending that he also belongs to the bumiputera and they therefore should perpetually be allowed to enjoy the privileges and rights .

Mahathir is what we called a mamak in Malaysia. Many of them are really Indians who have converted to take advantage of the bumiputera status. Some of them pretend to be more Malays than the original Malays.

Many of them have taken full advantage of their status and have gone one become Umno ministers. Unlike them, the original Malays are refined and cultured.

I have lived with them in Kelantan for 40 years and they are a civilised lot. They don’t go around blaming the non-Malays for their problems. Two fine gentleman I would like to mention are Zaid Ibrahim and Mustapha Mohamad and there are others too many to mention.

If Mahathir and his kind continue to call non-malays pendatang, then he should examine his own heritage in that his own father came from Kerala.

Yes, he should not be ashamed to acknowledge his own Indian heritage and proclaim proudly that he is also a pendatang.

Instead of spending his twilight years in graceful retirement, this old man deems it fit to foment hatred and ill will among the races. He should realise by now that he no longer holds any power and influence in the party that he once led.

That was evident when he could not even muster enough votes in the Umno division he once led to be chosen as a delegate in the last Umno general assembly.

[…] investigate Umno member Mohd Ali RustamMalaysian politicians – mostly No shame. No morals, no ethicsUmno hegemony is under threat, Malays are not under threatI never met or knew Altantuya, Najib tells ParliamentSamy inspects schoolMalaysia slips further in […]